history

The Cheung Chau Bun Festival is a kind of Jiao Festival - a festival that a village might hold every year or every few years. More specifically, it's a Tai Ping Qing Jiao [literal meaning: "the Purest Sacrifice celebrated for Great Peace"]. Such festivals were perhaps widespread across south China, but under Mao were regarded as feudal superstition, and were suppressed in mainland China.

There is little written history regarding Cheung Chau before the 18th century. But even early last century, some islanders said their families had settled on Cheung Chau hundreds of years ago, and we can guess something regarding the very early history based on some archaeological finds and the history of south China.

Though Cheung Chau has surely been settled - albeit not continuously - for thousands of years, it has only one well-known prehistoric site: the Bronze Age stone carving, just below the Warwick Hotel at Tung Wan. It's thought to be around 3500 years old, as the patterns carved into a granite outcrop are similar to those on pottery of similar age found in Hong Kong.